NewsTracker Answers for week of Dec. 02, 2024

Q: Emergency workers in Costa Rica walked 14 hours through a remote mountain forest last week carrying a woman who was in critical condition after she survived a plane crash that killed five of the six people aboard. Where is the Central American nation of Costa Rica?

Circle the area on this map


Q: The Cessna 206 Stationair crashed during a flight from Tortuguero on Costa Rica’s northeast Caribbean coast to the nation’s capital in the center of the country. What is the capital of Costa Rica?

A. Managua

B. Quito

C. San Jose

D. Tegucigalpa


C. San Jose is Costa Rica’s capital and largest city with 2.1 million residents in its metropolitan area. The nation’s overall population is about 5.2 million people. Tortuguero is home to a remote national park reachable only by airplane or boat, but it is the third-most visited park in Costa Rica


Q: Costa Rica is one of seven nations in Central America which is ...

A. Isthmus

B. Subduction zone

C. Tropical zone

D. All of the above


D. Central America is a part of North America and is a tapering isthmus extending from Mexico in the north to Colombia in South America. It separates the Atlantic Ocean from the Pacific Ocean. It lies between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator on the Central American Volcanic Arch where tectonic plates collide and push over and under each other.


Q: Costa Rica abolished its military in 1949 after a bloody 44-day civil war. Which other Central American nation abolished its army about four decades later?

A. El Salvador

B. Guatemala

C. Nicaragua

D. Panama


D. Costa Rica’s southeastern neighbor Panama abolished its army in 1990, which was confirmed by a constitutional change in 1994. Panama is the wealthiest nation in Central America followed by Costa Rica, which has directed its government spending toward health care, education and other social programs,


Q: With last week’s crash, a total of 45 people have died in seven Costa Rican air crashes since 2000. Which nation had the world’s deadliest air crash?

A. India

B. Japan

C. Spain

D. United States


D. On Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers flew an American Airlines jet into the North Tower of the World trade center in New York City killing an estimated 1,700 people. About an hour later a hijacked United Airlines flight hit the South Tower killing an estimated 1,000 people. The world’s next three worst crashes in Spain, Japan and India killed a total of 1,452 people.